Shadow box having integral mitered corners



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5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,378,135 SHADOW BOX HAVING INTEGRAL MKTERED CORNERS Orison W. Stone, Valley Cottage, N.Y., assignor to R. A.

Jones and Company, Inc., Covington, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Oct. 3, 1966, Ser. No. 583,721 6 Claims. (Cl. 206-4514) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shadow box display carton whose front wall provides shadow panels at the sides of the carton projecting into the carton, the shadow panels being connected on fold lines to sections which form mitered corners and which also provide free edges or surfaces adapted to engage and retain an article within the carton.

This invention relates to a shadow box display carton and more particularly the invention relates to a carton structure by which the front wall and adjoining end wall cooperate to form an integral mitered corner for the reception, retention, and display of an article.

The invention is directed to a carton of the type disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 563,285 filed July 6, 1966. The comparable front wall and end structure of the carton of that application comprises a pair of inwardly directed side flaps having transverse free edges terminating adjacent the end of the carton, a secondary flap having a bellows connection to lateral end flaps and being folded across the end of the carton, and a primary flap hinged to the back wall with the panel overlying the secondary flap and with a tuck panel projecting at an angle into the carton. The tuck panel forms a mitered corner with the transverse free edges of the side flaps and has a cut edge adapted to engage and retain an article in a carton. Preferably, the article retaining edge is a ring out into the tuck panel.

The present invention is directed to an improvement in the earlier carton structure, particularly in respect to the amount of cardboard required for the formation of the carton. The present invention provides the same, if not an improved, facial appearance in presenting a mitered corner effect which frames one end of the article disposed within the carton. The mitered corner effect, however, is formed integrally with the front wall and end flap and does not require the bellows connected secondary flap nor does it require a primary flap having a tuck panel which projects all the way into the carton.

The economy is obtained primarily in the elimination of the extended tuck panel for in cutting thousands of cartons from a sheet or web, every fraction of an inch removed from the tuck panel means a fraction of an inch saved across the complete stock from which the blank is cut.

Secondarily, there is economy involved in the setting up of cartons using the invention for the carton is adapted to be set up on existing packaging machinery presently used for straight tuck or airplane tuck cartons.

These features of the invention are attained by the front wall carton structure and its cooperation with an adjoining end flap, the structure including a pair of inwardly directed side flaps extending along a substantial portion of the front wall, the flaps being connected by miter creases to corner forming sections, the corner forming sections in turn being connected by creases to the end flap. The latter creases form a shallow V projecting into the end flap and permit the side flaps to be folded into the box to form a mitered corner with the corner forming sections. The corner forming sections present free sur- "ice faces which are adapted to engage an article disposed in the carton to hold the article securely in the carton.

With the structure as described, the end flap need have a tuck panel which is just long enough to project into the carton to secure the end flap in position overlying the end of the carton.

The invention will become more readily understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display carton embodying the invention,

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with the article removed,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a blank from which the carton is formed,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of the carton wherein the new invention is employed,

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of the opposite end of the carton, the opposite end being formed generally in accordance with the disclosure of my copending application,

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an alternative carton structure, the invention being employed at both ends of the structure,

FIG. 9 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 8 with the article removed,

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 1010 of FIG. 8,

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 11-11 of FIG. 8, and

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a blank from which the carton is formed.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the carton indicated at 15 contains an article 16 which has a cylindrical body 17 and a cap 18. The carton has a back wall 28, a front wall 21, side walls 22, an upper end or transverse wall 23, and a lower end or transverse wall 24. The intersection of the front wall with the transverse walls produces four corners 25 which define a front plane.

The front wall 21 includes a pair of inwardly directed side flaps or shadow panels 27 and a pair of corner-forming sections 28 at the upper end. The term shadow panel when applied to flaps in this description refers to a flap which projects into the carton to lie alongside the article and to provide a background panel to display or frame the article.

The corner-forming sections 28 are joined to the shadow panels 27 along crease or fold lines 30 and are joined to a primary end flap 31 by crease or fold lines 32 which project into the end flap. The corner forming sections 28 present free surfaces in the form of cut edges 33 which are engageable with the cap of the article 16 to assist in holding it in the carton.

The relationship of the elements can best be understood by reference to FIG. 5 which is: the plan view of the blank from which the carton is made. There it can be seen that the front, back, and side walls are serially connected along longitudinal creases 36 and additionally a glue flap 37 is connected to the back wall 20 and is adapted to be secured to the free side wall 22.

The side walls 22 have lateral end flaps 38 at the carton top which are adapted to be folded across the end of the carton. The primary top end flap 31 which overlies the lateral end flaps 38 is connected to the front wall 21 and includes a tuck panel 39. The corner forming sections 28 are generally triangular in this embodiment, although not necessarily so, as will become apparent in the alternative embodiments. The sections are defined in part by the crease lines 32 which together form a shallow V projecting into the end flap 31. The projection of the crease lines 32 into the primary flap and out of the front plane is critically important to provide enough board to permit the integral corner forming sections and side flaps to be depressed into the carton to form the mitered corners in the front wall. The corner forming sections 28 are also defined by the miter creases 30 and the cut edges 33 which form an opening into which the article projects and by which it is retained. The creases 30 might be partially formed as slits if necessary to relieve stresses in the board.

The structure at the opposite end of the carton has been described in detail in my copending application and includes a secondary flap 41 connected to gusset flaps 42 which are in turn connected to the side walls 22. A brace flap 43 may be employed to provide added strength for the end structure. The end structure further includes a primary flap 44 which terminates in a tuck panel having a hole 46 adapted to receive the end of the article. In illustrating the earlier structure in the same carton as the structure of the present invention, the saving in material which can be made is highlighted by a comparison of the longitudinal dimension (in the direction of the creases 36) of the respective tuck panels 39 and 45. The difference in lengths demonstrates the saving which can be effected by substituting the structure which requires only the tuck panel 39 for the longer tuck panel 45.

The manner in which the end structure of the invention is set up is illustrated in FIG. 6. The blank is first folded with the glue fiap 37 adhesively secured to the side wall 22 in a conventional manner. The blank is first flexed to its rectangular configuration of FIG. 6 and then the side flaps 38 are folded inwardly and the primary flap 31 is folded across the end with the tuck panel 39 projecting into the carton. As indicated above, this manner of erecting a carton is conventional in the straight tuck or airplane tuck cartons and requires no adaptation of existing machinery for its use.

The opposite end of the carton is formed as illustrated in FIG. 7 and as described in my copending application. The gusset flaps 42 are folded inwardly, bringing the secondary flap 41 across the end of the carton. The primary flap 44 is then folded across the secondary flap 41 and the tuck panel 45 is depressed into the carton to assume the angulated position illustrated in FIG. 2.

After the ends of the carton are thus formed, it is face loaded by inserting the lower end of the body 17 of the article 16 into the hole 46 and pivoting the cap end of the article against the opposite end. The pressure of the article on the opposite end depresses the shadow panels 27 inwardly and their connection to the corner forming sections 28 causes the corner forming sections to swing inwardly. The resilience of the board permits the cap end of the article to pass under the cut edges 33 of the corner forming sections. Thus, when the article is inserted, it is securely retained at one end by the engagement of the body of the article in the hole 46 of the tuck panel 45 and by the engagement of the cap with the cut edges 33 of the corner forming sections 28.

An alternative form of the invention which employs the principles of the front Wall and end wall structure described above is illustrated in FIGS. 8-12. In that carton, the structure of the invention is employed at both ends of the carton and is adapted to retain an irregularly shaped object such as the bottle 50 which has a cap 51 at its upper end. The bottle is contained in a carton 52 having a back wall 53, side walls 54, and a front wall 55. The front wall includes side flaps or shadow panels 56 which at the upper end are connected by miter creases 57 to corner forming sections 58 and at the lower end by miter creases 60 to corner forming sections 61. The corner forming sections 58 at the upper end present cut all) edges 64 which engage the cap of the article to retain it in the carton. At the lower end, the corner forming sections 61 present free surfaces 62 which engage a protruding base 63 of the bottle to retain that end in the carton. The corner forming sections 58 are integral with an upper end flap or transverse wall 65 and are connected to it by creases 66 which extend into the end flap 65. At the lower end, the corner forming sections 61 are connected by creases 67 to a bottom end flap or transverse wall 68, the creases projecting into the bottom end fiap 68. The intersection of the front wall 55 with the transverse walls 65 and 68 produces four corners 69 defining a front plane.

The blank from which the carton is formed is illustrated in FIG. 12. The back wall 53, side walls 54, front wall 55', and a glue flap 70 are serially connected along longitudinal creases 71. Side end flaps 72 are connected to respective side walls along transverse creases 73.

At the upper end of the carton, the corner forming sections 58 are formed in part by cutting a tab 75 along the cut edges 64, the tab being foldable on a crease '76. While the tab 75 could be cut from the carton, by folding it inwardly, a smooth surface is presented by the crease 76 adjacent the top of the cap 51 of the article. Further, the tab is folded across the inside of the primary flap 65, tending to strengthen the carton. The corner forming sections 58 are also defined by a straight cut line 77 and a circular cut line 78.

At the lower end of the carton the corner forming sections 61 are defined in part by the miter crease 60 and the crease 67 by which they are connected to the primary flap 68, the creases 67 projecting into the flap 68. Additionally, the corner forming sections have V-shaped cut edges 80, creating a triangularly shaped tab 81 connected along a crease 82 to the corner forming section. The creases 82 provide the free edges or bearing surfaces 62 which engage the base 63 of the container to retain it in the carton.

The remaining portion of the front wall forms a tongue 84 which is connected along a crease 85 to the primary flap 68 and which is itself creased at 86. The major portion of the tongue 84 normally lies along the back of the carton and the article rests upon it. A smaller portion 87 of the tongue 84 is folded upon the primary flap 68 along crease 85 to present a smooth edge at the bottom of the carton and to tend to reinforce the bottom of the carton.

The carton is erected in a manner similar to that described in connection with the first embodiment. Assuming that the carton is erected to a rectangular shape, the side end flaps '72 are folded over the respective ends of the carton and the primary flaps 65 and 68 are folded across the ends of the carton with the tuck tabs of each projecting into the carton. The carton is loaded merely by placing the article against the face of the carton and depressing the side flaps or shadow panels 56 as well as the corner forming sections 58 and 61. The creases 66 and 67 projecting into the end flaps 65 and 68 provide sufficient board to permit the corner forming sections as well as the side flaps to project into the carton without tearing the carton structure.

I claim:

1. A carton for displaying an article comprising a front wall,

a back wall spaced from said front wall,

transverse walls interconnecting said front and back walls at the ends of said carton and producing four corners at the front of said carton which define a front plane, one of said transverse walls being connected to said front wall along a first fold line which projects into said transverse wall and out of said front plane,

said front wall including a pair of opposed shadow panels projecting into said carton and separated by a longitudinal slot and adapted to lie along opposite sides of an article,

a pair of inclined corner-forming sections each connected to one end of a respective shadow panel along a second fold line intersecting said first fold line, and to said transverse wall along said first fold line,

said corner-forming sections having opposed central edges spaced from said transverse wall forming an opening adapted to receive and engage the end of said article.

2. A carton according to claim 1 further comprising means at the end of said carton opposite said cornerforming sections for retaining the opposite end of an article.

3. A wall structure according to claim 1 in which said first fold line is in the form of a shallow V whose apex extends into said transverse wall.

4. In a generally rectangular article display carton having two side walls, a back wall, a front wall and at least one end wall including a flap hinged to an end of said front wall, the intersection of said side walls with said front wall defining a front plane, said front wall comprising,

a pair of shadow panels connected to respective side walls and projecting into said carton, said shadow panels being separated by a slot and adapted to lie along opposite sides of an article,

each shadow panel being connected by a generally triangular section to said end flap, each said triangular section being defined by a first fold line hinging it to said end flap, a second fold line connecting it to said shadow panel and a free article engaging edge at a central portion of said front wall, said first fold line projecting as a shallow V into said end flap and out Of said front plane.

5. A carton according to claim 4 in which said second fold lines form mitered corners at the end of said carton.

6. A carton according to claim 4 in which the free edges of said triangular sections together with adjoining free edge portions of said shadow panels define an opening in said front wall engageable with the end of a receptacle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,492,712 12/1949 Ringler 229-39 3,093,290 6/1963 Banks et a1. 229--34 3,270,867 9/1966 Hennessey et a1. 206-45.14 3,325,079 6/1967 Puckett 229-34 WILLIAM T. DIXSON, JR., Primary Examiner. 

